Labeyrie Fine Foods has sold its frozen business to Ajinomoto

Lincoln International (“Lincoln”), a leading global mid-market investment bank, is pleased to announce that Labeyrie Fine Foods, a portfolio company of PAI Partners and Lur Berri, has sold its frozen business, Labeyrie Traiteur Surgelés, to the Japan-based group Ajinomoto.

With over €50 million of sales in 2016, Labeyrie Traiteur Surgelés (or “LTS” or the “Company”) is a leading manufacturer of frozen products such as appetizers, desserts and tourtes. Within its niche market, LTS benefits from an extensive offering of quality products through complementary premium brands (Lenôtre, Labeyrie and Blini) and private labels. The company enjoys a large base of customers comprised of French leading retailers.

The Company operates two production sites in France in Le Neubourg and Castelsarrasin benefiting from long-standing technical know-how. The two sites enjoy sufficient available production capacity to further support growth and to enlarge product offerings.

Capitalizing in the coming years on a leading position in several niche markets, as well as on a diversified portfolio of premium brands, LTS has identified numerous development opportunities such as the launch of new products and the diversification into the defrost sweets segment. With the support of Ajinomoto, LTS is looking to pursue industrial development of the sites and to continue to expand its client base and to expand its international presence on the premium segment. Meanwhile, Ajinomoto will capitalize on this acquisition to further strengthen its consumer foods business in Europe.

Lincoln acted as the exclusive sell-side advisor to Labeyrie Fine Foods throughout the sale process.